. If we can imagine a black person that isn't haunted by systemic oppression and virulent racism, then we can also see black people as individuals that can be more than just the descendants of slaves and the victims of seemingly unending racism.
I'm not really into Star Wars, certainly not any more (we'll get to that). But I think this is really important.
Sure, motivations make things complicated. Disney is an awful company and its approach to diversity is highly questionable, and people who want Star Wars and Star Trek to deal with racial issues are generally much more well meaning. But I think there is something very preformatively woke about requiring every story with black characters to deal with the oppression faced by their actors.
Speaking of Uhura, I was reminded of this interview.
She's sugar coating a lot, particularly how badly she was treated on Star Trek, but it's still a very powerful story.
I think there's nothing more disempowering for marginalised people than to believe that no other society is possible. I think sometimes we need to remind ourselves that society could work just as well without racism (in fact, that it would work better without racism) and I think science fiction and fantasy has a unique ability to do that. I think it's possible to fuck it up and to be complacent and lazy, but there's an inherent value in letting marginalised people be in media without needing the justification of the story being about oppression.
Over the past few weeks, John Boyega has spoken out about racism very vocally, and put his own career at risk to do so. I think having him able to do that and still be there, and to still be visible, is far more important.
On the flip side, part of the point the article seems to be more that Star Wars as a franchise is inherently conservative and contains a lot of very unhealthy messaging about both politics and personal conduct, and.. yes. Star Wars is a franchise from the 1970s, it has some very 1970s values which are deeply ingrained and difficult to dislodge, add to that Disney's general risk-adverseness and yeah, Star Wars is lazy and cowardly. But it could be worse, it could be Star Trek Picard, which is lazy, cowardly and miserable.
On a side note, I'm really glad Amazon seems to have dropped the idea of a Culture adaptation, because I think that would have actually broken my heart..